Everything's An Art Project

A Salvador Dalí Deepfake Can Take Selfies With Museumgoers

May 10th 19__Dan Robitzski__Filed Under: Artificial Intelligence

Dalí Museum

I Live, I Die, I Live Again

As deepfakes – AI-generated images and videos of people – became more sophisticated, experts cautioned that the technology could be used to create embarrassing celebrity porn and misleading propaganda.

While this wasn’t unfounded, we should have known that the insidious future of deepfakes would also include marketing stunts designed by ad agencies. Enter Dalí Lives, a new interactive deepfake video of the deceased surrealist painter Salvador Dalí that greets and takes selfies with visitors to Florida’s Dalí Museum, according to The Verge.

Post-Mortem Photography

Computer scientists created the deepfake Dalí’s face by feeding a machine learning algorithm with 1,000 hours of archival video footage of the artist giving interviews during his life. They then superimposed it over an actor with a similar physique as Dalí. A voice actor handled the dialogue.

As people approach the kiosk that houses fake Dalí, the artist will greet them and tell them pre-recorded stories from his life. Then Dalí will appear to hold up a cell phone and “take a selfie” while the kiosk’s camera photographs the visitors, fully transforming the type of AI technology that can be used to generate propaganda into a cutesy tourist attraction.